TJ and the Truth
by DrKCooper
Summary: Maybe the best realizations are forced from the most unlikely of voices. Rizzles.


_Disclaimer: All recognizable _Rizzoli &amp; Isles_ characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners including, but not limited to Tess Gerritsen. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No financial gain is associated with the publishing of this story. No copyright infringement is intended._

_Author's Note: We haven't seen T.J. in awhile and I'm assuming, for the sake of this story, that he's now a toddler. I know that's a stretch. Just go with it. :) –dkc_

**T.J. and the Truth**

"How come Nonna isn't married?" T.J. had been sitting at the dining room table with Jane coloring when he asked a seemingly random question.

Jane was quickly learning that her nephew was like every other Rizzoli in his ability to be blunt. At three years old he seemed to ask all kinds of questions without reservation.

"She was. Pop was married to Nonna," she answered the toddler.

"How come?" he asked.

"They loved each other," Jane couldn't begin to explain to a toddler why they were no longer married.

"Mom and dad aren't married."

The detective smiled at the perceptiveness of the boy.

"But they love each other and they love you," she assured him.

Seemingly happy with her answer, his attention returned to his coloring book. She ruffled his soft hair, content to simply watch him. This was becoming a regular occurrence for she and her nephew. Jane volunteered to watch him if Tommy had to pick up an extra shift or he wanted to take Lydia out. More often than not she enlisted Maura and on nights like this they'd watch T.J. at the doctor's home.

"Where did Nonna and Pop live?" he asked after long silence.

"They lived in a nice house. That's where your dad, uncle Frankie and Aunt Jane lived when we were your age," she explained.

"My mom and dad live with me but they aren't married," he said astutely.

"Yes they do," she attempted to make the connections his little mind must be.

She noticed Maura entering the living room, clearly looking for something. The doctor's ears perked up at T.J.'s next question.

"Are you and Auntie Maura married?" he casually asked.

"No, T.J., I don't have a husband and Maura doesn't have a husband," she had totally missed what he was actually asking.

"You're married to Auntie Maura."

"What?" Jane's jaw dropped.

In the living room Maura had stilled and was now looking at Jane and T.J.

"You live together," he shrugged his little shoulders. "Married people live together."

At this Jane at least had an answer.

"No, we each have a house. This is Maura's house. My house is the one with the little turtle, remember?"

Across the room Maura had to bite her tongue rather than correct Jane. It was most certainly a tortoise.

"But you love each other. Married people love each other," he looked up at his aunt.

His eyes did not meet Jane's. Jane had caught Maura's shocked gaze and had not looked away. They did love each other. As friends they had often admitted they loved each other, but platonic love was not what the three-year-old likely meant.

"Yes, we do," Jane spoke hesitantly while keeping her eyes on Maura.

"People that love each other get married."

Both Jane and Maura smiled at the simplicity of T.J.'s world. The detective winked at her best friend, maybe as a way of saying 'toddler's say the damnedest things'. But the look they shared didn't stop there.

Suddenly a loud knock came at the back door and T.J. jumped up.

"Daddy!" he yelled.

As the door opened, there stood Tommy with the goofy grin that many found adorable. He scooped up T.J. and kissed the little guy's cheek.

"Did you guys have a good night?" Tommy asked.

"It was definitely interesting," Jane said as she started picking up T.J.'s things.

Joining Jane, Maura gathered crayons and helped get T.J. ready to go home. She occasionally caught Jane's eye as they did so. Both women were noticeably rattled by the bluntness of a not so oblivious toddler.

"Thanks for visiting us at our home tonight, T.J.," Maura reached out a hand to straighten the hair previously ruffled by Jane.

Jane raised an eyebrow at Maura's comment.

"Tell Janie and Maura thank you," Tommy instructed his son.

"Thank you!" T.J. smiled, holding out his arms for hugs from them both.

Wrapping his arms around his obedient aunt's neck, he released her slightly and gestured for Maura. It was now an odd group hug between Tommy, T.J., Jane and Maura. Jane's arm wrapped around the small of Maura's back. The doctor smiled at the sensation as well as the gesture itself. She was disappointed when the hug was over.

"See you next time, T.J.," Jane managed to say.

And out the door Tommy and his mini me went, leaving Jane and Maura standing shoulder-to-shoulder staring at the closed door. Neither spoke for what felt like an eternity.

"You'd make a fantastic wife," Jane smirked.

Playfully elbowing the detective, Maura smiled.

"I do love you." Jane's voice had never been quite as small. Vulnerability was something foreign to her.

The seriousness with which Jane spoke brought Maura's eyes immediately to the dark brown pools that she had often looked to for strength, comfort, moral support and validation. She struggled to find the way to approach what could be one of the more important conversations of their entire friendship. They had come a long way from Maura telling Jane over a grilled cheese sandwich and rancid wine that she loved her and would never put what they had in jeopardy over Tommy. It all came back around to Tommy tonight.

"You do practically live here," Maura finally spoke.

"And it's apparently confusing," Jane's sarcasm was back, the seriousness edged out.

"It isn't to me," the doctor broke the plane of existence they had been firmly rooted in since Tommy and T.J. disappeared through the front door.

Following closely behind, Jane reached for Maura's hand before she was fully in the kitchen, forcing her to turn around. Facing one another, Maura's brow furrowed in confusion. What was it Jane wanted? If she had wanted something, the sarcasm had broken the seriousness that could have led to the revelation of that want.

"I'm not sure what I'm supposed to say. If this conversation follows the one before, a proposal would be in order," Jane's eyes were piercing.

Allowing Jane to continue her hold on her forearm, Maura used her free hand to reach up and grasp Jane's opposite arm. Holding firmly to a muscular, though lithe upper arm, Maura slowly steadied her thoughts and steadied her resolve.

"You and I are not cut out for marriage."

"To men or to each other?" Jane's response stunned the doctor.

In bare feet, inches shorter than the detective before her, Maura rose on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to those of the quite surprised Jane. The kiss was resolute, though rigid. Jane's surprise prevented her from responding before Maura pulled back.

"We are who we are, Jane," she whispered.

Taking in her words, the kiss and the continued existence of her hand on Maura's arm, Maura's hand on her own, she tilted her head down and leaned forward. Her lips pressed gently to Maura's. The kiss was resolute, too, in its own way, but there was something else there that hadn't existed before—acceptance.

Maura's hand soon left Jane's upper arm and settled beneath raven locks on the back of Jane's neck. As Jane let slip the grasp she had on Maura's forearm, the doctor slid her hand up Jane's arm, mirroring how she had held the opposite arm a minute before. Jane's hand found Maura's hip, grabbing it and pulling Maura closer. The kiss deepened, feelings flooding both friends. When Maura's tongue pressed past Jane's parted lips, a moan was captured in the shorter woman's mouth. Her hips reacted sooner than her brain allowed her to preempt. Her slight thrust caught Jane's immediate attention and the cop broke the kiss.

"Maura…" Jane rasped in that throaty, heady tone that had more than once prior to today made Maura weak in the knees. "Is this crazy?"

"What's crazy is that it took a three-year-old pointing it out for us to take notice," she spoke with clarity, her eyes a touch more green than usual as they looked at Jane with both hope and thirst.

This made Jane chuckle. Her hands, both having settled on Maura's perfectly curvy hips, slipped around to interlink against Maura's lower back.

"I noticed a long time ago," Jane admitted with a smirk.

It was Maura's turn to chuckle.

"As did I."

Jane tipped her head down once more, this time pressing an adoring kiss to the doctor's forehead.

"When Tommy tried to kiss you a few years ago," Jane spoke &amp; Maura cringed at the memory. "You told me you loved me."

Maura nodded at the memory, a smile replacing the cringe on her face. It was the first time she had spoken those words to Jane, words her best friend had said to her previously, but not quite with the same amount of significance.

"You meant it like this," Jane spoke without the confidence that knowing for certain would have allowed.

Bringing both hands to Jane's neck, Maura's thumbs grazed the stoic jaw that she had watched clench in battles with criminals and her own demons.

"I think I have always meant it like this."

Jane's smile portrayed her relief and happiness. She had always meant it like this, too. But she, like Maura, was too afraid to admit aloud how she felt. What she had feared, she couldn't be sure.

"We should have asked T.J. what two people who love each other do on a weeknight at 9:30," she said with the flirtatious tone so common to their conversations, this time laced with innuendo.

"I believe they pour a glass of wine, get comfortable on the couch and argue about whether a documentary on tortoises includes turtles or not," Maura bantered.

"That sounds like what we've been doing for years," Jane said as she released the doctor and went to retrieve wine glasses.

"Funny, I think you're right."

The smile Maura gave Jane was one that in so many ways reflected the smile of relief and happiness Jane had on her own face. Here were two women who had loved each other for years, neither admitting to what degree that love existed, acting in their casual, seamless way as if a breakthrough hadn't just happened in their relationship.

"I bet T.J. would agree with me that the correct term is 'turtle'," Jane deadpanned.

Making her way to the bottles of wine, selecting one and turning back to Jane, Maura was prepared to counter Jane's goading.

"As tonight illustrates, T.J. is by far the most intelligent, not to mention perceptive, of the Rizzolis and thus would easily recognize that the correct scientific identification is 'tortoise'," she turned her back and walked toward the couch without allowing Jane a word.

Shaking her head with the broadest of grins on her face, Jane followed behind.

"God, I love you," she spoke to herself as much as to the retreating doctor.

Her truth, Jane's ultimate truth, was as evident to her in this moment as it had been to her three-year-old nephew who, unlike Jane, was able to see it and speak it without a hint of hesitation or shame. And that was as it should be.

_-finis-_


End file.
